The impeachment trial of President Clinton is nearly over, and
it could be back to other business for members of Congress by next week. But
senators and representatives will be assessing the political fallout from the
trial for months to come. Polls show that Republicans have lost popularity because of
their role in the trial. Minnesota's Republican Senator, Rod Grams, may
be one of the Senate's most vulnerable members. But Grams is busy looking past
impeachment, and is taking the lead on a key issue the Republican party hopes
will resonate strongly with voters and bring support back into the fold.

Sen. Rod Grams (R)

Term: First. Elected 1994. Elected to the U.S. House in 1992

Biography: Born 1948. Four children. Homebuilder. He worked for 10 years as an anchorman for KMSP-TV in the Twin Cities. Grams ran and won a U.S. House seat in the 6th Congressional
District. He defeated 10-year incumbent Democratic Rep. Gerry Sikorski.

In the House, Grams was elected Freshman Class Whip and gained the distinction of being the first freshman in the 103rd Congress to get legislation enacted into law: a bill to provide regulatory relief for loans for those devastated by the 1993 Midwest flood.

Source:
Politics in Minnesota Directory

SENATOR ROD GRAMS
has a focused policy message for Americans in
Minnesota and beyond.

Grams:
I believe Americans overall are way overtaxed.

His conviction is the centerpiece of Congressional Republicans'
post-impeachment program; focused on a 10% income-tax reduction. Grams
is going to be one of the GOP's leading voices on the issue. In addition to a
rollback in rates, Grams is ready for tax reform, such as a flat tax or a
national-sales tax.

Grams:
We have one of the most complicated, archaic, outdated, unfair,
counter-productive tax systems in the world. You can't put lipstick
on a pig and make it pretty and we can't do much to this tax code anymore to try and make it a better one. So what we basically need to do is take
a bold step and pull the IRS out by the roots and replace it with a
system that is simple, fair and easy to understand.

Grams has been reluctant to talk about possible fallout from the Senate
trial, saying Senate rules prohibit discussion of the specifics. And even as
impeachment has been occupying much of the Senate's time, the
budget debate, including what to do with a massive tax surplus, has already
begun. The White House doesn't want an across-the-board tax cut, saying shoring
up Social Security is more important. Democratic pollster Celinda Lake thinks
the fact Clinton likely won't be removed from office is affecting the GOP's
agenda.

Lake:
One of the reasons Republicans are really pushing tax cuts is because they feel
that the failure of the impeachment process will anger their right wing. Their
right wing which still wants this president convicted - it's 25% of the
population - while the rest of America is absolutely disgusted with this and
wants to move on, also are the people who really, really want a tax cut. So I
think they're trying to energize their base.

Lake's polls show most Americans blame House managers for keeping the
impeachment process going. Republican polls also indicate that the GOP has lost
voters' confidence in many key areas, although they may hold a slight advantage
on tax issues. Democrats hope voters will take their impeachment resentment to
the polls in 2000. But David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union
predicts that impeachment as an issue will fade.

Keene:
Right now the Congress and the White House are moving to a major battle
over the size and shape of the federal government. And the year 2000 election is
going to be far more influcenced by that battle than it is by the question of
how you define some of the terms that Bill Clinton used in his various
depositions and testimony before the grand jury, or whether or not he's actually
president.

The people who feel strongly, either way, about removing Bill Clinton
from office tend to be the core members of both political parties. Conservative
Republicans say that many members of Congress who support convicting President
Clinton are acting on principle, something they say is always a good political
move. But Minnesota Democrats plan to use impeachment as an issue in year 2000
races. Dick Senese is the chair of the Minnesota DFL party.

Senese:
In terms of our House delegation, we have Representative Gutknecht, who
voted for all four articles of impeachment. His colleague, Representative
Ramstad, only voted for two of them. I think that just goes to show how out of touch with Minnesotans and how beholden Representative Gutknecht really is to the far
right. And I think Senator Grams needs to do a better job of representing
Minnesotans. In Minnesota we say that what the president did was wrong, he
shouldn't have done it, it doesn't lead to impeachment, let's censure and move
on. And Senator Grams would do well to heed that.

But former Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen Quist says any negative
fallout over impeachment will be countered by renewed motivation of the party
faithful.

Quist:
There clearly is a political risk, but the Republicans have done well in
the past when they have been willing to take risks. And I would just cite as an
example, that clearly the 10-point "Contract With America" was a political risk. But it told a lot of people that the Republicans stood for something, and
consequently in the elections the Republicans did very, very well. And I think
the principle here is exactly the same.

As the senate election campaign draws closer, money may be
more important than the impeachment trial. Democratic pollster Lake says House
members are more closely associated with impeachment proceedings than Senators,
and that senators' bigger campaign budgets will let them explain impeachment
votes in advertising. That could put Senator Grams in an a difficult
spot. An analysis of Senate campaign funds done recently by the Capitol Hill
newspaper, Roll Call, found Grams at the bottom of the heap among Senators up for
re-election in 2000 . He has less than $200 thousand in his
campaign account. Roll Call political reporter John Mercurio says that sets the stage for a tough race.

Mercurio:
What it does is it draws potential challengers in the campaign, into the
race. It encourages them to run. Democratic party leaders can turn to people
like Tim Penney, a former representative, who's been talking about running, and
say "look, this guy's beatable". This guy's only got $200 thousand in his bank account, we can raise that much for sure, and we can probably surpass him.

Election watchers note Grams is a first-term Senator who won his seat in a very
Republican-friendly year. His vote on removing the president will be known soon,
whether it hurts him or helps him keeps his seat won't be clear until the
election